Presidential election season is prime time for predictions. One sure
bet is this: neither candidate is likely to make criminal justice a
stump issue. But another sure bet -- the candidates' laser focus on the
economy -- should make a discussion of criminal justice reform, and its
potential to reduce fiscal waste, unavoidable.
Rarely has the intersection of politics and criminal justice produced
sensible responses to crime or rational conversations about our
criminal justice system. Instead, politicians spar about who is "tougher
or softer on crime." See Willie Horton and the 1988
election. Since President Richard Nixon first announced the "War on
Drugs" 40 years ago, the United States has adopted "tough on crime"
policies driven all too often by political and emotional considerations
at the expense of data-driven practices and programs that would have
been far less costly and far more effective at promoting the health,
safety and productivity of families and communities across the country.
As a result, between 1970 and 2010 the number of people incarcerated in
this country grew by
700 percent. This massive explosion in our prison population has
caused federal and state governments to dramatically escalate their
spending on corrections. States have been spending an ever-increasing
percentage of their budgets on prison-related expenses, cutting into
scarce taxpayer dollars while coming at a great expense. By 2007, states spent more than $44 billion on incarceration -- a 127 percent jump from 1987.
The effects? Mass incarceration has had a particularly devastating effect on communities of color. One in every nine black men between the ages of 20 and 34 is incarcerated, and one in three black men, and one in six Latino men, will spend some part of their lives in prison. After 40 million arrests and $1 trillion spent,
drugs remain readily available, overall usage rates in America haven't
declined, global consumption of opiates, cocaine, and cannabis
increased between 1998 and 2008, and drug-related violence has only
increased in many Latin American countries. No other state-sponsored
program has a 1/3 to 2/3 failure rate as exemplified by recidivism
rates and yet been perpetuated by the government with such gusto. Polls
show the public agrees: in a survey of more than 1,000 Americans, 66 percent think the War on Drugs has been a failure.
Read on...
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Showing posts with label U.S. election. Show all posts
Showing posts with label U.S. election. Show all posts
Coleman: I'm Going To Court
By Eric Kleefeld - January 6, 2009, 4:01PM
Norm Coleman has made it official: He is filing a lawsuit to challenge the election result in Minnesota, which he does not believe to be a valid count -- and he is making clear that for the sake of democracy, Al Franken should not be seated in the Senate.
Coleman went through the list of things his campaign says went wrong: For example, that absentee ballots for Al Franken were counted twice, and that there were no uniform standards in reviewing rejected absentee ballots.
Read on...
Sore loser. Tom
Norm Coleman has made it official: He is filing a lawsuit to challenge the election result in Minnesota, which he does not believe to be a valid count -- and he is making clear that for the sake of democracy, Al Franken should not be seated in the Senate.
Coleman went through the list of things his campaign says went wrong: For example, that absentee ballots for Al Franken were counted twice, and that there were no uniform standards in reviewing rejected absentee ballots.
Read on...
Sore loser. Tom
VIDEO: Palin Did NOT Know Africa a Continent (Fox!!) w/ juicy gossipy update!
by ksh01
I heard this live on the Fox Report, Shepard Smith's show. It was at the end of the show, a report done by Carl Cameron. But apparently the tensions and drama behind the scenes in the McCain Campaign were far, far worse than anyone in the media allowed us to believe.
According to Cameron,
Palin did NOT know Africa was a continent. She did NOT know who the parties to NAFTA were. She threw dramatic temper tantrums over bad press. She refused to prepare for the Gibson or Couric interviews.
Read on...
I couldn't resist this. Tom
I heard this live on the Fox Report, Shepard Smith's show. It was at the end of the show, a report done by Carl Cameron. But apparently the tensions and drama behind the scenes in the McCain Campaign were far, far worse than anyone in the media allowed us to believe.
According to Cameron,
Palin did NOT know Africa was a continent. She did NOT know who the parties to NAFTA were. She threw dramatic temper tantrums over bad press. She refused to prepare for the Gibson or Couric interviews.
Read on...
I couldn't resist this. Tom
South Dakota Beats Abortion Ban, Homophobes Win in 4 States
by Meteor Blades Wed Nov 05, 2008 at 01:20:53 AM PST
Arizona Proposition 102 defining marriage as between a man and a woman (92%) For: 1,009,693 - 57% Against: 777,359 - 43%
Arizona Proposition 202 revoking business licenses for hiring undocumented workers (92%) For: 702,839 – 41% Against: 1,020,204 - 59%
Arkansas: Ban Gay Adoption (90%) For: 549,074 – 57% Against: 418,648 - 43%
Obama may have won but there is still a large hate vote in the states. Check out this list of results. Tom
Two terrible proposals were beaten Tuesday. In South Dakota, the effort to ban most abortions failed for the second time in two years. In Colorado, the effort to define a fertilized egg as a person also failed. But measures to ban gay marriage succeeded in Florida, Arizona and, most likely, California. Gay adoption was banned in Arkansas. Here are the results of these and other important ballot measures. The numbers in parentheses are the percentage of precincts counted
Arizona Proposition 102 defining marriage as between a man and a woman (92%) For: 1,009,693 - 57% Against: 777,359 - 43%
Arizona Proposition 202 revoking business licenses for hiring undocumented workers (92%) For: 702,839 – 41% Against: 1,020,204 - 59%
Arkansas: Ban Gay Adoption (90%) For: 549,074 – 57% Against: 418,648 - 43%
Obama may have won but there is still a large hate vote in the states. Check out this list of results. Tom
Sarah Palin sounds like she knows she lost. She also refuses to say if she voted for Stevens.
John Aravosis (DC)
Can't get rid of "that one" fast enough. Watch the video, she and her husband both sound like they know they lost. And it's simply amazing that she may have voted for a convicted felon for Senator.
The woman did next to no real interviews, never held a press conference, and McCain hasn't held one in two and a half months. And the media did nothing about it. On that account, they let us down. Yes, there is something they could have done. How about not letting Palin and McCain go on SNL and Letterman and every other goofy fluffy show until they hold a real press conference? How about pulling your reporters off their bus and their plane? Our media allowed McCain to set a precedent where presidential candidates are no longer required to be publicly accountable. Yet another way in which the Republicans are continually watering down our democracy, and the media, the supposed watchdogs of that democracy, yet again are complicit.
Yes the media failed just like the Canadian media allows itself to be manipulated by Harper. But the media's performance in the U.S., when Bush gave press conferences, was hopeless in any case. Its not like they ever asked him any tough questions. Just shows how bad a choice Palin was that she couldn't even be trusted to talk to the cheerleading, emasculated mainstream U.S. media. Tom
Can't get rid of "that one" fast enough. Watch the video, she and her husband both sound like they know they lost. And it's simply amazing that she may have voted for a convicted felon for Senator.
The woman did next to no real interviews, never held a press conference, and McCain hasn't held one in two and a half months. And the media did nothing about it. On that account, they let us down. Yes, there is something they could have done. How about not letting Palin and McCain go on SNL and Letterman and every other goofy fluffy show until they hold a real press conference? How about pulling your reporters off their bus and their plane? Our media allowed McCain to set a precedent where presidential candidates are no longer required to be publicly accountable. Yet another way in which the Republicans are continually watering down our democracy, and the media, the supposed watchdogs of that democracy, yet again are complicit.
Yes the media failed just like the Canadian media allows itself to be manipulated by Harper. But the media's performance in the U.S., when Bush gave press conferences, was hopeless in any case. Its not like they ever asked him any tough questions. Just shows how bad a choice Palin was that she couldn't even be trusted to talk to the cheerleading, emasculated mainstream U.S. media. Tom
No One Should Concede a Contested Election
posted by John Nichols on 11/04/2008 @ 06:22am
The final polls before today's presidential election suggested that Democrat Barack Obama is well ahead of Republican John McCain – both nationally and in key battleground states. But surveys conducted prior to the voting, and exit polls of voters leaving their polling places, are not always definitional. In 2004, John Kerry was an exit-poll winner, but on election night he found himself locked in a county-by-county, precinct-by-precinct fight for the decisive state of Ohio.
Before all the votes were counted and all the conflicts were resolved in Ohio, Kerry conceded the election to Republican George Bush.
Read on...
Early reports of a huge voter turnout portends well for Obama. Crimbrary is confident it will be an Obama landslide. But there may also be lots of problems....long lines, malfunctioning machines, harassment and probably a few riots. Tom
The final polls before today's presidential election suggested that Democrat Barack Obama is well ahead of Republican John McCain – both nationally and in key battleground states. But surveys conducted prior to the voting, and exit polls of voters leaving their polling places, are not always definitional. In 2004, John Kerry was an exit-poll winner, but on election night he found himself locked in a county-by-county, precinct-by-precinct fight for the decisive state of Ohio.
Before all the votes were counted and all the conflicts were resolved in Ohio, Kerry conceded the election to Republican George Bush.
Read on...
Early reports of a huge voter turnout portends well for Obama. Crimbrary is confident it will be an Obama landslide. But there may also be lots of problems....long lines, malfunctioning machines, harassment and probably a few riots. Tom
Hall Of Shame: The Most Hate-Filled Flyers Of The 2008 Campaign (SLIDESHOW)
"Passion and prejudice properly aroused and directed...do about as well as principle and reason in a party contest."- Thomas Elder, prominent Whig politician, 1840
In a bitterly-contested presidential election, a Democratic candidate praised for his intellectual demeanor and idealistic spirit is the target of vicious personal attacks that question his patriotism and his ethnic background.
It was 1800, and Thomas Jefferson was the subject of rumors and crude innuendo circulated in newspapers and handbills passed out in taverns claiming that he was the son of a half-breed Indian squaw squired by a Virginia mulatto father.
Obviously, things haven't changed that much.
Read on...
The democratic process in action. Check out the slideshow. Tom
In a bitterly-contested presidential election, a Democratic candidate praised for his intellectual demeanor and idealistic spirit is the target of vicious personal attacks that question his patriotism and his ethnic background.
It was 1800, and Thomas Jefferson was the subject of rumors and crude innuendo circulated in newspapers and handbills passed out in taverns claiming that he was the son of a half-breed Indian squaw squired by a Virginia mulatto father.
Obviously, things haven't changed that much.
Read on...
The democratic process in action. Check out the slideshow. Tom
JUST IN: Colorado Voter Purge Overturned!
by StuHunter Thu Oct 30, 2008 at 07:18:09 PM PDT
Once again, the GOP plan to suppress the vote has been overturned by the courts. It amazes me that the party who flaunts the jingo "Country First" continually and willfully tries to stop Americans from voting. John McCain has run the nastiest, dirtiest, most un-American campaign that I have ever seen. Shame on John McCain. He's an embarrassment to any soldier who ever fought for our civil rights and freedoms.
DENVER — Tens of thousands of Coloradans who had been removed from the state’s voter rolls will be allowed to vote in next week’s election and given extra protections so their ballots are counted, under an agreement reached late Wednesday in federal court here. The voters’ names had been removed by Mike Coffman, the Colorado secretary of state, who said he did so because the voters had moved out of state or were listed more than once on the rolls. But Mr. Coffman was sued by a coalition of voting rights and other groups who said such purges were generally prohibited by federal law within 90 days of an election.
Under the agreement, voters removed from the rolls will be permitted to cast provisional ballots, and those ballots will be counted unless election officials can prove the voters were not eligible. To strike such ballots, county election officials must conduct an extensive records review on each one, a decision that must then be reviewed by Mr. Coffman’s office.
"This is unprecedented," said Elizabeth Westfall, a lawyer for the Advancement Project, a civil rights group that helped file the lawsuit. "We are really thrilled that there will be this degree of unprecedented scrutiny and protection for these purged voters when they cast their provisional ballots."
Read on...
Once again, the GOP plan to suppress the vote has been overturned by the courts. It amazes me that the party who flaunts the jingo "Country First" continually and willfully tries to stop Americans from voting. John McCain has run the nastiest, dirtiest, most un-American campaign that I have ever seen. Shame on John McCain. He's an embarrassment to any soldier who ever fought for our civil rights and freedoms.
DENVER — Tens of thousands of Coloradans who had been removed from the state’s voter rolls will be allowed to vote in next week’s election and given extra protections so their ballots are counted, under an agreement reached late Wednesday in federal court here. The voters’ names had been removed by Mike Coffman, the Colorado secretary of state, who said he did so because the voters had moved out of state or were listed more than once on the rolls. But Mr. Coffman was sued by a coalition of voting rights and other groups who said such purges were generally prohibited by federal law within 90 days of an election.
Under the agreement, voters removed from the rolls will be permitted to cast provisional ballots, and those ballots will be counted unless election officials can prove the voters were not eligible. To strike such ballots, county election officials must conduct an extensive records review on each one, a decision that must then be reviewed by Mr. Coffman’s office.
"This is unprecedented," said Elizabeth Westfall, a lawyer for the Advancement Project, a civil rights group that helped file the lawsuit. "We are really thrilled that there will be this degree of unprecedented scrutiny and protection for these purged voters when they cast their provisional ballots."
Read on...
Florida GOP County Chair: Help!Black People are Voting!!!
by fladem Fri Oct 31, 2008 at 03:21:44 AM PDT
There are days in Florida when you feel like you are living in the 19th Century. Here is part of the text of an e-mail sent by the Chairman of the Hillsborough Republican Party (this is county that contains Tampa).
THE THREAT: HERE IN TEMPLE TERRACE, FL OUR REPUBLICAN HQ IS ONE BLOCK AWAY FROM OUR LIBRARY, WHICH IS AN EARLY VOTING SITE. I SEE CARLOADS OF BLACK OBAMA SUPPORTERS COMING FROM THE INNER CITY TO CAST THEIR VOTES FOR OBAMA. THIS IS THEIR CHANCE TO GET A BLACK PRESIDENT AND THEY SEEM TO CARE LITTLE THAT HE IS AT MINIMUM, SOCIALIST, AND PROBABLY MARXIST IN HIS CORE BELIEFS. AFTER ALL, HE IS BLACK--NO EXPERIENCE OR ACCOMPLISHMENTS--BUT HE IS BLACK. I ALSO SEE YOUNG COLLEGE STUDENTS AND THEIR PROFESSORS FROM USF PARKING THEIR CARS WITH THE PROMINENT 'OBAMA' BUMPER STICKERS. THE STUDENTS ARE ENTHUSIASTIC TO BE VOTING IN A HISTORIC ELECTION WHERE THERE MAY BE THE FIRST BLACK PRESIDENT.
Read on...
I wish I could say "only in America" unfortunately Canada has its own share of wingnuts. Tuesday is going to be exciting. Tom
There are days in Florida when you feel like you are living in the 19th Century. Here is part of the text of an e-mail sent by the Chairman of the Hillsborough Republican Party (this is county that contains Tampa).
THE THREAT: HERE IN TEMPLE TERRACE, FL OUR REPUBLICAN HQ IS ONE BLOCK AWAY FROM OUR LIBRARY, WHICH IS AN EARLY VOTING SITE. I SEE CARLOADS OF BLACK OBAMA SUPPORTERS COMING FROM THE INNER CITY TO CAST THEIR VOTES FOR OBAMA. THIS IS THEIR CHANCE TO GET A BLACK PRESIDENT AND THEY SEEM TO CARE LITTLE THAT HE IS AT MINIMUM, SOCIALIST, AND PROBABLY MARXIST IN HIS CORE BELIEFS. AFTER ALL, HE IS BLACK--NO EXPERIENCE OR ACCOMPLISHMENTS--BUT HE IS BLACK. I ALSO SEE YOUNG COLLEGE STUDENTS AND THEIR PROFESSORS FROM USF PARKING THEIR CARS WITH THE PROMINENT 'OBAMA' BUMPER STICKERS. THE STUDENTS ARE ENTHUSIASTIC TO BE VOTING IN A HISTORIC ELECTION WHERE THERE MAY BE THE FIRST BLACK PRESIDENT.
Read on...
I wish I could say "only in America" unfortunately Canada has its own share of wingnuts. Tuesday is going to be exciting. Tom
Republican Voter Suppression: A Guide
By Kate Klonick and Zachary Roth - October 29, 2008, 7:19PM
There are so many Republican gambits designed to make voting more difficult -- specifically for Democrats, of course -- that it can be hard to keep track of them all. So here's a handy -- and by no means comprehensive -- guide to what's happening in some of the key swing states.
Ohio
The U.S. Supreme Court earlier this month denied a bid by the state GOP to force Democratic secretary of state Jennifer Brunner to provide local election officials with lists of new voters whose registration information did not match that on other government documents. Voting-rights advocates had feared that making Brunner hand over the lists could lead to a slew of GOP challenges, forcing hundreds of thousands of voters to cast provisional ballots. Republican leader (and Ohioan) John Boehner -- with help from the White House -- has asked the Department of Justice to step in, but few observers expect DOJ to take any action so close to the election.
Read on...
When voter suppression is the centrepiece of your campaign you know the campaign is in trouble. Unfortunately it was very effective in 2000 and 2004. Tom
There are so many Republican gambits designed to make voting more difficult -- specifically for Democrats, of course -- that it can be hard to keep track of them all. So here's a handy -- and by no means comprehensive -- guide to what's happening in some of the key swing states.
Ohio
The U.S. Supreme Court earlier this month denied a bid by the state GOP to force Democratic secretary of state Jennifer Brunner to provide local election officials with lists of new voters whose registration information did not match that on other government documents. Voting-rights advocates had feared that making Brunner hand over the lists could lead to a slew of GOP challenges, forcing hundreds of thousands of voters to cast provisional ballots. Republican leader (and Ohioan) John Boehner -- with help from the White House -- has asked the Department of Justice to step in, but few observers expect DOJ to take any action so close to the election.
Read on...
When voter suppression is the centrepiece of your campaign you know the campaign is in trouble. Unfortunately it was very effective in 2000 and 2004. Tom
Dozens (40) Walk-Out McCain Slime-Call Center In Disgust!!!
by Steven R Mon Oct 27, 2008 at 03:15:37 PM PDT
Talking Points Memo breaks this great story
Some three dozen workers at a telemarketing call center in Indiana walked off the job rather than read an incendiary McCain campaign script attacking Barack Obama, according to two workers at the center and one of their parents.
Williams' daughter told her that up to 40 of her co-workers had refused to read the script, and had left the call center after supervisors told them that they would have to either read the call or leave, Williams says.
"They walked out," Williams says of her daughter and her co-workers, adding that they weren't fired but willingly sacrificed pay rather than read the lines. "They were told [by supervisors], `If you all leave, you're not gonna get paid for the rest of the day."
Read on...
Crimbrary is predicting an Obama landslide. Not a particularly risky prediction at this point. Tom
Talking Points Memo breaks this great story
Some three dozen workers at a telemarketing call center in Indiana walked off the job rather than read an incendiary McCain campaign script attacking Barack Obama, according to two workers at the center and one of their parents.
Williams' daughter told her that up to 40 of her co-workers had refused to read the script, and had left the call center after supervisors told them that they would have to either read the call or leave, Williams says.
"They walked out," Williams says of her daughter and her co-workers, adding that they weren't fired but willingly sacrificed pay rather than read the lines. "They were told [by supervisors], `If you all leave, you're not gonna get paid for the rest of the day."
Read on...
Crimbrary is predicting an Obama landslide. Not a particularly risky prediction at this point. Tom
Justice Department Targets ACORN But Ignores GOP Voter Suppression
By Steven Rosenfeld, AlterNet. Posted October 23, 2008.
On the eve of the 2008 election, the Department leaks a FBI probe of ACORN but remains silent on widespread voter intimidation tactics.
Partisan considerations still appear to be contributing to the Department of Justice's actions when it comes to enforcing the nation's voting rights laws.
With Election Day less than two weeks away, proponents of more tightly regulating the voting process -- this time led by congressional Republicans -- have gotten their desired response from the nation's guardian of civil rights' laws: a FBI investigation into ACORN, the low-income advocacy coalition that registered 1.3 million new voters in 2008.
Last week, two FBI officials told reporters an ACORN investigation was underway, violating Department rules for disclosing information on cases that could impact an election. The Obama campaign's response was to ask the Attorney General to include that leak in a special prosecutors' investigation of the U.S. attorney firing scandal. No response to that request has been forthcoming.
Read on...
This is what happens when you politicize the justice department. The U.S. election has a lot of similarites to the Zimbabwean election. Tom
On the eve of the 2008 election, the Department leaks a FBI probe of ACORN but remains silent on widespread voter intimidation tactics.
Partisan considerations still appear to be contributing to the Department of Justice's actions when it comes to enforcing the nation's voting rights laws.
With Election Day less than two weeks away, proponents of more tightly regulating the voting process -- this time led by congressional Republicans -- have gotten their desired response from the nation's guardian of civil rights' laws: a FBI investigation into ACORN, the low-income advocacy coalition that registered 1.3 million new voters in 2008.
Last week, two FBI officials told reporters an ACORN investigation was underway, violating Department rules for disclosing information on cases that could impact an election. The Obama campaign's response was to ask the Attorney General to include that leak in a special prosecutors' investigation of the U.S. attorney firing scandal. No response to that request has been forthcoming.
Read on...
This is what happens when you politicize the justice department. The U.S. election has a lot of similarites to the Zimbabwean election. Tom
In New McCain Robocall, Rudy Giuliani Suggests Obama Opposes Jailing Murderers And Rapists
By Greg Sargent - October 22, 2008, 2:15PM
It was perhaps predictable that the task of recording the worst of McCain's robo-slime -- the worst so far, at least -- would fall to Rudy Giuliani.
Giuliani has recorded a new McCain robocall in which he suggests, in effect, that Barack Obama doesn't think sex offenders, drug dealers and murders should have to go to jail, according to Jennifer Henderson, a stay-at-home mom in Maine who tells us she received the call.
Readers in Wisconsin, North Carolina, Ohio, and Colorado also report receiving the same call. Here's audio:
Read on...
This is how criminal justice policy is abused and distorted in the U.S. election process. Follow the link the hear the audio or to read the transcript. Tom
It was perhaps predictable that the task of recording the worst of McCain's robo-slime -- the worst so far, at least -- would fall to Rudy Giuliani.
Giuliani has recorded a new McCain robocall in which he suggests, in effect, that Barack Obama doesn't think sex offenders, drug dealers and murders should have to go to jail, according to Jennifer Henderson, a stay-at-home mom in Maine who tells us she received the call.
Readers in Wisconsin, North Carolina, Ohio, and Colorado also report receiving the same call. Here's audio:
Read on...
This is how criminal justice policy is abused and distorted in the U.S. election process. Follow the link the hear the audio or to read the transcript. Tom
The Supreme Court and the Election: What's at Stake
By Herman SchwartzThis article appeared in the November 3, 2008 edition of The Nation.
October 16, 2008
The upcoming presidential election will shape the Supreme Court for decades to come. John Paul Stevens is 88, David Souter dislikes Washington and the 75-year-old Ruth Bader Ginsburg has been treated for cancer. One or more of these liberal Justices will probably leave the bench in the next four years. The replacement of one or two of them by a conservative would mean a rollback of key rulings of recent years.
Roe v. Wade has drawn the most attention, but many other liberal rulings of the past twenty years that were decided by 5-to-4 or 6-to-3 votes could be reversed. Even if these decisions are not overruled outright, conservative judges can obtain the same result by redefining what is protected, erecting procedural hurdles or forcing repeated expensive litigation. Here are some of the most important rulings that would be threatened by a McCain Court:
The balance on the Supreme Court is one of the most important consequences of the U.S. election. It is nothing short of a miracle that John Paul Stevens has continued his important contributions to the court at age 88. This article is a good summary of what's at stake. Tom
October 16, 2008
The upcoming presidential election will shape the Supreme Court for decades to come. John Paul Stevens is 88, David Souter dislikes Washington and the 75-year-old Ruth Bader Ginsburg has been treated for cancer. One or more of these liberal Justices will probably leave the bench in the next four years. The replacement of one or two of them by a conservative would mean a rollback of key rulings of recent years.
Roe v. Wade has drawn the most attention, but many other liberal rulings of the past twenty years that were decided by 5-to-4 or 6-to-3 votes could be reversed. Even if these decisions are not overruled outright, conservative judges can obtain the same result by redefining what is protected, erecting procedural hurdles or forcing repeated expensive litigation. Here are some of the most important rulings that would be threatened by a McCain Court:
The balance on the Supreme Court is one of the most important consequences of the U.S. election. It is nothing short of a miracle that John Paul Stevens has continued his important contributions to the court at age 88. This article is a good summary of what's at stake. Tom
Progressive Voter Guide to Reproductive Justice and Gender
Find out how the candidates compare on the 10 most important reproductive justice and gender issues, from abortion to equal pay.
In 1916, Margaret Sanger opened the first birth control clinic in the United States. Just 10 days later, the clinic closed and Sanger was arrested. It took seven years of court battles before she was able to open another clinic, 20 years before the United States stopped classifying information about birth control as obscene, and another 36 years before the Supreme Court extended the right of privacy to include the use of contraceptives outside of marriage. Today, virtually every woman (98 percent) who has ever had sexual intercourse has relied on some form of contraception. Yet that right, along with so many other hard-fought gains (reproductive choice, equal pay for equal work, gender equity in education), is under assault.
The list of setbacks is as depressing as it is long: A growing number of pharmacists is refusing to fill birth control prescriptions, the Department of Health and Human Services is trying covertly to redefine contraception as abortion, Roe v. Wade is on the brink of being reversed, equal pay for equal work has never been fully realized, women's sports continue to be underfunded, domestic violence is routinely ignored, and on and on.
Read on...
Following last weeks overview of drug issues in the U.S. (see menu in sidebar) here is a nice overview of gender justice issues in the U.S. election. Tom
In 1916, Margaret Sanger opened the first birth control clinic in the United States. Just 10 days later, the clinic closed and Sanger was arrested. It took seven years of court battles before she was able to open another clinic, 20 years before the United States stopped classifying information about birth control as obscene, and another 36 years before the Supreme Court extended the right of privacy to include the use of contraceptives outside of marriage. Today, virtually every woman (98 percent) who has ever had sexual intercourse has relied on some form of contraception. Yet that right, along with so many other hard-fought gains (reproductive choice, equal pay for equal work, gender equity in education), is under assault.
The list of setbacks is as depressing as it is long: A growing number of pharmacists is refusing to fill birth control prescriptions, the Department of Health and Human Services is trying covertly to redefine contraception as abortion, Roe v. Wade is on the brink of being reversed, equal pay for equal work has never been fully realized, women's sports continue to be underfunded, domestic violence is routinely ignored, and on and on.
Read on...
Following last weeks overview of drug issues in the U.S. (see menu in sidebar) here is a nice overview of gender justice issues in the U.S. election. Tom
Fighting for the Rights of Voters Behind Bars
By Anthony Papa, Drug Policy Alliance. Posted September 23, 2008.
Exercising the right to vote is important part of prisoner rehabilitation, but over 5 million convicted felons are barred from doing so.
The drive was originally embraced by Richard Allen, the commissioner of corrections in Alabama, but it was stopped when he received a letter on Thursday from the Alabama Republican Party opposing the drive. Its chairman, Mike Hubbard, told Mr. Allen that the party supports voter registration but not for prisoners, citing a need for safeguards against possible voter fraud.
While some people are working on behalf of felons, other political operatives are trying to purge felons from the voting rolls. Felon votes could be decisive in the U.S. election. Tom
Exercising the right to vote is important part of prisoner rehabilitation, but over 5 million convicted felons are barred from doing so.
A coalition of concerned citizens in Alabama is shaking up the GOP with their goal of registering voters in the most unlikely of places -- state prisons. A voter registration drive led last week by Rev. Kenny Glasgow, began registering prisoners to vote, a right guaranteed under Alabama's State Constitution, so they could cast absentee ballots.
The drive was originally embraced by Richard Allen, the commissioner of corrections in Alabama, but it was stopped when he received a letter on Thursday from the Alabama Republican Party opposing the drive. Its chairman, Mike Hubbard, told Mr. Allen that the party supports voter registration but not for prisoners, citing a need for safeguards against possible voter fraud.
While some people are working on behalf of felons, other political operatives are trying to purge felons from the voting rolls. Felon votes could be decisive in the U.S. election. Tom
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